Thumb guard



Jan. 19, 1937. v H. 5. PAUL 2,068,109

THUMB GUARD Filed Oct. 27, 1950 I N VEN TOR.

MJ -Z BY z A TTORNEYJ Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STA :1 FFlCE THUIWB GUARD Harold S. Paul, Wyoming, Qhio; Paul C. Rodgers administrator of said Harold S. Paul, deceased My invention relates to thumb guards, and particularly to thumb guards adapted to prevent or break up the habit of thumb sucking in children.

In the art there has been considerable development in the provision of different types of guards. The first is made most commonly of wire, bent, twisted, interwoven, or Welded, to form a rigid cage or enclosure over or about the thumb of the child, and adapted to be held in position with flexible bands or ribbons tied around the wrist. The second consists of two or more parts, joined together or connected by flexible means at the vjoint of the thumb, with the object of allowing the thumb to bend at said joint. In these types of thumb guard, the wearer's thumb is either ,held straight or rigid, according to the snugness of fit of the guard, or, where freedom of flexion is provided for, such freedom is accomplished by having loose, jointed, or flexible parts in the guard itself. While guards engaging or enclosing the thumb are advantageous in that a child cannot get sufficient suction to make the process of thumb sucking an enjoyable one, the types of guard in use prior to my invention secured whatever degree of effectiveness they had in this respect at the expense either of having the aforesaid complex, loose, or jointed parts or of preventing the natural free movements of the thumb, and in particularthat bending of the thumb to oppose the fingers which is necessary to the child in grasping, holding, and manipulating objects. The most critical of the childs needs in early education and one of which the privation or limitation is not only awkward and nerve-trying to the child, but aifects its whole confidence and activity was thus neglected and overlooked.

It is the object of my invention to provide an anti-thumb sucking device whichewill have. all the advantages of the old types of guard in preventing the comfortable formation of suction, with the added advantage that, without any movable parts in the guard to render it inefficient or easily breakable, the childs thumb is free to flex naturally at the middle joint.

Psychologists and physicians are united in stressing the importance of the well-used hand in early education; yet without the thumb to work with and oppose the fingers naturally, it will readily be seen how the childs hand is crippled in every conceivable operation, to say nothing of the efiect on the thumbs own development of any limitation on its natural movements.

Says the Century Cyclopedia: The perfected thumb is the chief characteristic of the human hand as distinguished from that of all other animals, a perfection which is seen in the free movements of this member and its ready apposability to the other digits.

"Of all the movements of the hand, says the Encyclopedia Americana, the oppositionof the thumb to the other fingers especially characterizes the human hand. It is the possession, and of course the use and development, of the peculiar flexor muscles of the thumb, as it says, which give to the human hand all its dexterity.

It is therefore apparent that, in the provi-' sion of a thumb guard which permits the childs thumb to flex at the middle joint, without any loss of effectiveness or simplicity otherwise, an advance in the art of considerable consequence has been made. 1

In all the types of thumb guard preceding mine, the thumb was either held rigid and extended, or, if permitted to move at the middle joint, was allowed to assume an extended or bent-back position. It is a further object of my invention, in the design which will be hereinafter disclosed, to hold the thumb in a slightly bent position, so far as its extension or backward bending is concerned. For this object the guard is formed so that its outer side engages the thumb at the nail or between the nail and. the knuckle to act as a splint against complete straightening out of the thumb, and, doubly, against its backward bending away from the index finger into the position most naturally sought by the child for ready, comfortable, satisfactory thumb-sucking. This restriction is novel in anti-thumb sucking devices, and its advantages are several, in addition to the limitations it places on easy, comfortable insertion of the thumb into the mouth. It acts first as a deterrent and then as an obstacle to thumbsucking.

The natural position of a childs thumb at rest is one in which it is slightly, easily flexed, along with the also slightly flexed fingers, a position in itself, therefore, most free from danger of exciting any feeling of constraint in the child, even if, as in non-free-flexion guards, no movement into other positions were allowed. Ordinarily the bent-back position of the thumb is as useless to the child and to its manual development as freedom of movement in the other direction is all-important to that development.

The several functional objects and advantages above described may be accomplished by guards made of any rigid or rigidly shaped material, as shaped leather or any unyielding fabric, or of cast or moulded metal, or of wire, bent, twisted, interwoven, or welded. There is no limitation, moreover, on the obstacles, projections, or additions that may be introduced into the design of the guard for the purpose of discouraging or thwarting thumb-sucking, provided only that the thumb is left free to be flexed, and restricted from being completely extended or rounded backward.

However, for simplicity and inexpensiveness of construction, and by reason of its easy adaptability to all requirements and conditions, I prefer nickel wire as the material of my guard; and the several above objects and other objects to which reference will be made in the ensuing disclosure, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I have illustrated a preferred modification.

Referring to the drawing:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a childs hand showing one type of guard in position on the thumb.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the guard shown in Fig. l detached from the child's hand.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modified type of guard.

In making up the guard shown in Figs. 1 and 2, two pieces of wire are employed which are twisted together in a double loop indicated at a. It is preferable to start the loop a intermediate the ends of two pieces of wire so that there will be four ends which may be bent into the large oval-shaped loop B for the front of the guard and the smaller circular loop C for the rear of the guard. The front loop wires are then twisted together as indicated at D, and the rear loop wires are twisted together as indicated at E.

Each set of two wires is then extended to form a circular opening and the wires are looped together on one side as indicated at F, and on the other side as indicated at G. The ends of the wires are then bent into eyelet formations H, I, J and K. The eyelets may be employed for retaining a flexible ribbon L, which may be tied around the childs wrist as indicated in Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1, it will be observed that the medial joint of the thumb, when the guard is properly adjusted on the hand, comes at or just above the base of the loop B so that the childs thumb will be free to flex at the medial joint and the hand can be used in a normal manner.

Enough of the thumb does not project through the loop B to allow the child to get any suction on the end of the thumb if he attempts to put the guard in his mouth. The guard is in the way if he attempts to get his bent fore-thumb into his mouth. The smaller loop C permits the knuckle of the thumb to extend through the opening so as not to curtail freedom of bending.

Since the guard is of such light weight and since the freedom of flexing the thumb is in no way curtailed, a child will not object to Wearing the guard as the muscular activity of the hand is in no way constrained.

In sucking the thumb a child ordinarily bends the thumb back away from the index finger, and it will be noted that the construction of guard which I provide not only prevents suction but prevents the thumb from being bent back to the position in which the normal child will place his thumb in order to get it conveniently in his mouth.

Since the hands of children vary considerably in size, it is, of course, within the realms of mechanical modification to vary the size of the guard and to modify the shape to conform to different requirements, but insofar as such modifications and changes employ the principle of a guard in which the thumb is free to flex at the middle joint and not free to extend or bend backward into the thumb-sucking position, I consider such modifications within the scope of my invention.

In Figure 3 the body of the guard M is moulded from metal, celluloid, or other composition, with an aperture N at the top and a clearance opening 0 for the thumb joint. Eyelets P are also provided for attaching the device about the wrist. The aperture N may be omitted as the shape of the moulded guard may be such as to hold the thumb in comfortable bent position.

I prefer to make the guard from pure nickel wire which is free from liability to rust or corrosion, and which is practically non-tarnishable and will be harmless to the mouth and skin in case the child does put the guard in his mouth.

Having thus described my invention, what I.

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

1. A thumb-sucking prevention guard comprising a pair of wires twisted together at the medial portions to form the top of the guard, one pair of the end portions of the wires bent into an open loop adapted to lie adjacent the front of the thumb, the other pair of wires bent so as to form a splint adapted to lie upon the back of the thumb, opposed wires of each pair then bent inwardly and twisted into a circular formation adapted to enclose the thumb, and the extreme ends of the wires bent into eyelets to lie along the sides of the thumb and to receive a binding tape.

2. A thumb-sucking prevention guard comprising a pair of wires twisted together at the medial portions to form the top of the guard, one pair of the end portions of the wires bent into an open loop adapted to lie adjacent the 7 front of the thumb, the other pair of wires bent so as to form a splint adapted to lie upon the back of the thumb, opposed wires of each pair then bent inwardly and twisted into a circular formation adapted to enclose the thumb, and the extreme ends of the wires bent into eyelets adapted to lie along the sides of the thumb and adapted to receive a binding tape, the wires forming a splint having a loop therein to allow clearance for the knuckle of the thumb during the flexing thereof.

HAROLD S. PAUL. 

